KINGSTON, N.Y. -- A wind-fed fire on Sunday pushed firefighters back and turned what might have been just a bed on fire into a three-alarm blaze that injured a police officer and left a two-family house heavily damaged, according to the Kingston fire department.

Kingston Deputy Fire Chief Donald Allen on Sunday evening said the department responded immediately to the 11:46 a.m. call at 12 Linderman Ave., but, "The wind was the big thing. It gave the fire a huge start."

Fire Chief John Reinhardt said Kingston Police Officer Mark Wikane, 55, reached the scene first and entered the burning building to be sure the occupants on both floors had escaped.

Reinhardt said Sunday afternoon that he had just returned from Kingston Hospital after checking on Wikane.

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"He had some smoky materials fall on his right arm and vest, but the big worry was smoke inhalation," Reinhardt said.

Wikane was treated and later released from the hospital, according to Kingston police.

Reinhardt said the fire was so smoky it was difficult, at first glance, to determine which house was on fire.

"As firefighters tried to get to the second-floor area of 12 Linderman, the high winds blew the flames right back at them and the heavy smoke pushed them back," he said.

Reinhardt said the fire companies had to attack the fire from outside and it was brought under control at 12:55 p.m.

Meanwhile, Linda Leonardo, mother of tenant Suzanne Kain, said her daughter, who lived on the first floor, lost everything in the fire.

"My daughter and her boyfriend, Nick Watzka, had just come back from grocery shopping. They lost $500 in groceries and everything else. She is just devastated by the loss," Leonardo said.

However, Leonardo said Kain's five children, ages 16, 10, 7 and 5 years, and 18 months had escaped from the fire and were unharmed.

"My daughter said she smelled smoke and they got out of the house. But, the kids were wearing only their pajamas. Everything else is gone," Leonardo said.

Leonardo said family members were mobilizing to send clothing and other items to Kane.

Neighbors had called the Red Cross for temporary housing and assistance for the families living on both floors, who were displaced by the fire.

Allen said, at the third alarm, off-duty firefighters were called in. Ulster Hose Company No. 5 had brought in its tower ladder truck.

Allen said the fire department posted the house as uninhabitable, but said it's up to the owner, Colleen Bicknese, who does not live there, to decide if it can be repaired.

"We cleared the scene at about 4:30 p.m. and turned the property back to the owner, who is securing the building tonight," he said.

"The Cause and Origin Team determined that the fire started in the bedroom in the back of the second floor," Allen said.

"Cause and Origin determined careless use of smoking materials in the area of the bed started the fire. Once the wall near the bed caught fire, the wind took it," he said.